The name Leycesteria sinensis was published by Hemsley in Hooker’s Icon. Pl. (27: t. 2633. 1900). It is based on a single specimen collected by Henry (9692c) in Yunnan (mountains north of Mengtze, 2130 m) and does not appear to have been collected since then. This specimen has inflorescences with a single whorl, outer bracts broadly ovate, and calyx fused up to the middle with deltoid lobes; it falls within the variation of L. formosa.